The more I see of this city, the more I fall madly in love with it! I can move here and barely know any Spanish right? Right! Today was a busy day, and I took lots of pictures. When I started on this trip, I thought having an SD card that holds 2,000 pictures would be fine. Who knew that Barcelona alone would be about 1,000 pictures. Now I need to go back and delete the really bad ones, and pray that I will be able to survive on this one SD card. (BTW, who is going to help me make a really good scrapbook with all these pictures??)
Anyway, back to today. Robin and I left the hostel a little after 9, and went across the street to the ¨supermarcado¨. We bought a loaf of bread, ¨jamon¨and ¨queso¨(aka ham and cheese). We took it with us and went to go visit Parc Guell. Getting there was a hike. Literally. We got out of the Metro, and had to walk a few blocks. Than all of a sudden you see a huge hill, with lots of stairs and escalators. Yes, this hill was big enough for escalators. By the time we got to the top, we were drenched in sweat, but had fabulous views of Barcelona.
When we entered the parc, we walked down a windy, dirt road. In the middle, there is a large square with a really cool bench surrounding the whole thing. The bench is decorated with mossaic tiles. This square has a really great view of the city and water. The first thing we noticed when we saw the square was all the men selling different items. They had their blankets spread all over the place. As we were taking pictures of the view, the men start grabbing their things and RUNNING. They disappeared in a heartbeat. Apparently it is illegal to sell items there. Eventually the cops found them, and I believe gave out tickets. Quite a show.
After taking pictures, Robin and I sat down and made our breakfast/lunch. It was very yummy, and definetly something I will be doing in the near future. Making sandwiches seems more exciting in a different country than home. Once we were done, we continued down the parc. We walked down stairs, and saw:
Anyone know where this is from?? In Season 7 finale of America´s Next Top Model, the last runway was done at Parc Guell. We did not know this beforehand, and as we walked in the gates, I stopped dead. I turned to Robin and said that this is so familiar, and that I thought it was in the show. Another girl, who was American, said that she agreed with me. So of course, since we were on a runway, I decided to pose. The side of the wall also has these nests jutting out. We got to do some rock climing to get into them. Getting out was a little bit of a challenge, but exciting.
Next we continued down the stairs and found this large square area, but it was covered. There were about 50 columns in rows, and if you looked up, the whole ceiling was mosaic´d with whtie tiles. Then in the center, there were a few designs with colored mosaic´s. Now I know where we get the word ¨gaudy¨from. Gaudi def. liked to show off, and get his work noticed. He was brilliant, and when I build my own house, I will be modeling it after his artwork.
After taking many pictures, we finally found our way to the lizard. If you google Parc Gaudi, the lizard is usually the first thing that will pop up. It was fun seeing it, but there were so many people around it. We were able to get a few pictures of it, and then moved out of the way of the crowds.
After Parc Guell, we headed back towards Montjuic. There is a section in the part called Poble Espanyol. This area was built in the early 1900´s for an international fair. Originally, Spain was going to tear it down afterwards, but thanfully they left it. It has beautiful architucture, nice squares, and nice artisan shops. In many of the stores, you are able to see the artists working on their craft. As we walked around, we found this cute little wine place. They have bottles of wine for sale, but they also had a few small tables for people to sit and drink and eat. We each got a glass of wine (for less than 3€), and some Catalana bread. The bread has tomato juice squeezed on it, and then olive oil drizzled on. It was so good. I love the food here! This was also our first and only meal that did not include cheese.
When we finished at Poble Espanyol, we went back towards La Rambla. The statue of ¨Christopher Colon¨has an area on top where you can look out on the whole city. We did that quickly. Even though we saw many views of the whole city, I enjoyed getting to look down on La Rambla, and being close to the water. Back on ground, we walked down La Rambla, stopping into souvenir shops and exchanging money. We had to get to a cooking class by 6, so we were able to walk lesuirely. While waiting for the class, we stopped off somewhere to order chocolate churro. First they brought out a cup of melted chocolate. Being us, and impatient, we started drinking the hot, melted chocolate. Finally they brought out the churro´s. They are a little different than the ones in the US. These churros were smaller, and they did not have sugar or cinnamon sprinkled on. They were basically just fried dough, and you dip it into the melted chocolate. It was really good, but did not hit our sweet spot. The chocolate was a little bitter.
At 6 we went to the meeting place for the cooking class. At least we thought it was a cooking class. Walking into the back of the restuarant, there were two tables set up with wine glasses, sangria, cheese and meat plates, and potato plates. It all looked and tasted very good. Instead of us doing the cooking, a chef cooked paella for us right in front of our eyes. He told us what to do, and explained why we did each step. While the paella was cooking, a bartender came back and taught us how to make sangria. Apparently you´re not supposed to load your sangria with wine, but with other alcohols and fruit juices. The food and sangria were delicious, and hopefully I will be able to attempt paella at home (yeah right!!)
We finished dinner at 8:30, and it was still light outside. We headed towards the beach to sit out for a little bit. At that time of day, the beach was still pretty busy. We were able to sit out for about 30 minutes, and then we decided it was time to go. We still wanted to visit a few more places. We took the Metro and then walked around the city to see a few buildings by La Casa Batillo, and then we went and saw La Sagrada Familia Church. This church is huge and beautiful. I believe it is the tallest point in the city, and we were able to see it from all the mountains, and Christopher Colon. It was great getting to see it lit up at night.
I guess you can say we made the most of our time in Barcelona. There are a few more things that we would have liked to havdone, but in two and a half days, we saw a lot, and enjoyed every single minute of it. Plus, in a year or two I will be living here full time, so I will be able to visit the sites whenever I want.
Next stop Venice, and I will be sure to update everyone tomorrow night.
Sammy xoxo
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